


Save Tonight

by consumptive_sphinx



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampires, M/M, prostitution (sorta)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-04
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 03:08:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2566103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consumptive_sphinx/pseuds/consumptive_sphinx





	1. Chapter 1

The boy is nervous. He thinks he's hiding it, but he isn't. 

"What's your name?" Erestor looks away from the darkened windshield for the first time since they got in the car, turning to face his companion is the passenger's seat. The boy is watching him carefully, dark hair falling in front of liquid brown eyes, and up until this moment his face has been blank. 

Rose-pink lips curve into a coquettish smile. "Most call me Jasmine," the boy says; his voice has acquired a teasing lilt, and his head is tilted to the left, putting emphasis on his throat. He smells sweet, like vanilla and strawberries, and Erestor can hear his heartbeat. 

Glorfindel would probably think that was attractive. Erestor just thinks it's sad. 

"I'm not interested in what most call you," he says, calm but firm. "I asked for your name."

The boy — and Erestor should stop thinking of him as the boy, he isn't a child, however innocent he might look — drops the act and looks down at his knees. "Lindir Grey," he says, tone quiet and subdued. "My name is Lindir." 

"Lindir," Erestor repeats absentminndedly, gaze returning to the windshield. "Mine is Erestor." There's another moment of silence before Erestor next speaks. "How old are you?"

Lindir's shoulders curl inward, making his already small frame look tiny; Erestor has the sudden urge to hug him. "Sixteen." He says it even more quietly than he said his name, like he's hoping Erestor won't notice. 

Erestor is glad he can't cry. "And how old were you when you… started?" He's not sure he wants to know, but he asks anyway. 

"…twelve." Erestor might not be able to cry, but Lindir can and Lindir is. 

He abruptly changes lanes. His grip on the steering wheel is so tight that his knuckles are white. 

"What are you doing?"

Erestor glances back at him. "I refuse to feed off a sixteen-year-old child. I also refuse to let anyone else do the same. So I'm taking you home."

Lindir nods quickly and looks down again, but this time he's smiling for real.


	2. Chapter 2

Lindir has lived in the shadows all his life.

Even so, he doesn't belong here, and he knows it as well as if the walls screamed it aloud. _What are you doing in a place like this?_ they seem to ask, and every new room Erestor leads him through only intensifies the feeling.

He may belong to the shadows, but the shadows he's used to come from red lights and neon signs and the flickering streetlights of the city's slums. The darkness of an alleyway is distinctly different from the darkness of a vampire's mansion.

"Do you want something to eat?" Erestor's tone is light and friendly, and it should put Lindir at ease but it doesn't. Being offered things is something else he's not used to.

"Yes, please." He internally tells the walls to shut up.

_It's just a building. I've been invited here. I am welcome._

He doesn't quite manage to convince himself that he belongs, but the sense of wrongness decreases somewhat.

Erestor puts food in front of him, Lindir doesn't register what type, but he knows it's better than anything he's eaten in a long while. They talk idly for a few minutes, the sense of wrong steadily fading away, until the door opens and firm footsteps make their way into the kitchen to reveal a tall vampire dressed to look like a peacock who nearly everybody at Celeste refers to as the Blond Fop. He used to be one of Jasmine's regular clients, but Lindir doesn't know his name.

"Hello Erestor —" He stops abruptly. "Who's this?" Lindir might not know Blond Fop's name, but he sees the recognition there.

Erestor flicks his wrist at Blond Fop. "This is Glorfindel," he says, "and Glorfindel, this is Lindir."

Glorfindel. The name fits. "Hello." Lindir smiles, and doesn't mind how fake it is.

"I —" Glorfindel's voice seems to break. "Hello," he manages, and quickly leaves the room. 

Erestor shoots Lindir a confused look. He shrugs.


	3. Chapter 3

All Erestor can think is, That was odd. 

Lindir didn't offer any explanation, but he seems quieter now. Erestor tries to pretend he doesn't see anything strange about either of their reactions — if Lindir wants him to know, he'll speak up, and if not, then it isn't his business. At all. 

But. 

Erestor is Erestor. And while he will lie to others if necessary, he never lies to himself. 

Glorfindel and Lindir have met. No, scratch that, Glorfindel and Jasmine have met. Fin was surprised to hear Lindir's name, and twice in the last ten minutes Lindir has slipped into that flirtatious smile from the car; he's Lindir on his own, but he's Jasmine with a client, and he clearly thinks of Glorfindel as a client. 

He sighs. This will be more difficult than he thought. 

"Is something wrong?" Lindir asks softly, and no, it's supposed to be him asking that, he's the one who promised — only to himself, but still, he promised, and if there's one thing his sire taught him it's to take promises seriously. 

Erestor shakes his head. "No, I'm fine. Just thinking. Do you know Glorfindel?" 

He isn't usually so direct, but it works. 

Lindir nods, then shakes his head. "I know his feeding habits and his name. Not much else." A smile creeps across the boy's face. "At Celeste we used to call him the Blond Fop."

Ah. So Glorfindel was a regular customer. Erestor isn't sure why the idea makes him want to rip Fin's stomach open, but it does. 

He quells the murderous urge he didn't know he had and takes Lindir's had. "We should probably figure out where you're going to be sleeping," he says, ignoring the look of surprise Lindir gives him. "You'd be safer with me, but we have plenty of spare rooms if you would be more comfortable in your own."

Glorfindel can wait. Lindir's more important right now.


	4. Chapter 4

"You know him."

Erestor speaks quietly in Russian. If Glorfindel had to guess he'd say Lindir was sleeping, but he's not sure, and either way it's better if he doesn't overhear them.

"I knew him." He puts emphasis on the past tense. "And even then, not really. I knew a false name and what his blood tasted like. Not much else."

Erestor nods wearily, and Glorfindel notices for the first time how dark the circles around his eyes are.

"You're hungry," he says softly.

"Of course I'm hungry." If Erestor weren't so tired he'd probably sound sarcastic. "Why do you think I went to Celeste?"

Glorfindel doesn't respond, just removes the golden chain from around his neck and leans forward. It's clear what he's offering.

Erestor leans away, but his breathing is faster now. Glorfindel knows without looking that his eyes have dilated and his teeth are showing. "I don't want to —"

"I'll be fine." He doesn't move.

"But —"

"It's better to get some from me now than risk losing control later, Tor."

Even Erestor can't argue with that. It's true and they both know it.

He doesn't try. Instead he leans forward to press his lips against Glorfindel's throat, runs his tongue along the seam between neck and shoulder — Glorfindel gasps at the narcotic haze that fills his mind, the slight pain of sharp teeth breaking his skin doing nothing to clear it — he's absently aware of Erestor licking up the blood but nothing truly registers. 

The moment is oddly timeless, stretching like taffy as sheer bliss spreads through Glorfindel's veins for what could be two minutes or twenty, until Erestor pulls away and they seperate, faces only inches apart.

"Thank you," Erestor whispers.

And he stands up from the chair, and he runs.


	5. Chapter 5

Lindir wakes to darkness and an unfamiliar bed, and it takes him a few moments to remember where he is. 

The door is closed but not locked, and he pads out and down the halls until he finds an open door out to a balcony with Erestor on the other side. Erestor doesn't acknowledge him. 

"Hello." He leans forward over the railing, next to Erestor. The sky is dark, but if he looks hard enough he can just barely see the ocean. 

He still doesn't respond. Lindir wonders if the vampire even knows he's there. 

Erestor abruptly blinks, and shakes his head as if to clear it. "I'm sorry, Lindir. How are you?"

Lindir smiles. It's mostly real. "Good. It's beautiful," he says, nodding towards the scenery. 

An absent nod. "Yes." 

They stand there in silence for a minute or so, before Lindir cuts into the quiet again. "I don't think I've seen you smile once."

Erestor laughs. "You've known me for six hours, and you were asleep for two and a half of them."

"But it's still odd."

Erestor doesn't respond to that, just looks down and says, "We should go in. It's cold."

Lindir watches him leave, and after a few moments follows him in.


	6. Chapter 6

When Elrond walks in the door, he knows something is different but doesn't know what. 

He finds out quickly, though, when he opens the door to Erestor's study to see a small human boy curled up on the floor by Erestor's feet. 

"The twins should be returning tomorrow night," Elrond says, and leaves the two of them alone together. 

Strange. In all the years he and Erestor have known each other, he's never known Erestor to feed off of blood whores. 

But Elrond puts the thought away and continues on, looking for Glorfindel.


	7. Chapter 7

"So I assume I'm going back to Celeste tomorrow?"

Erestor glances down. Lindir's eyes are closed, his head leaning against Erestor's knee.

"Why would you think that?"

A shrug. "There wasn't any reason to think otherwise," he says, eyes still closed. "And I figured it was a one-night thing. Usually it is."

He finds himself momentarily at a loss for words. "Usually?"

Lindir opens his eyes and looks up at him. "This isn't the only time I've made house calls, you know. Not very often, but I have. It's different here, but it isn't that different, so I thought I'd be leaving tomorrow like usual."

Erestor reaches down to touch Lindir's hair, and doesn't say a word.

"So am I going back?"

"Do you want to?" Erestor can't see why he would, but it won't hurt to ask.

Lindir looks at him like he's insane. "No. Of course not. I work there because I have no other option, not because I want to."

"Then you can stay here," Erestor says. He probably shouldn't say that before he checks with Elrond, but he does.

Lindir closes his eyes again, leans against Erestor, and smiles.

It's nearly dawn. Erestor picks the boy up and carries him back to the room they've agreed to share, lays Lindir on the bed, locks them in, closes the shutters and the curtains against the oncoming sun, and curls up beneath the covers, arms wrapped around Lindir's waist and hands splayed across his shoulderblades.

Somehow they already trust each other enough to let their guard down. Erestor doesn't understand it, but doesn't question it either.


End file.
